The Silent War: A Controller's Unbreakable Hope
by Omnitrix 12
Summary: This is my first fanfic on this site. A teenager is captured and enslaved by an alien race. But even when his very body is no longer his own, he discovers a message over 2,000 years old that could mean his freedom today. Please read and comment!


I came up with this story out of the blue one Sunday morning (three guesses where I was at the time). It's one of those stories that is, of course, completely fictional-_or is it?_ Perhaps it is true, perhaps it is not. In the end, my dear reader, it is you who must decide.

Yeerks, Hork-Bajir, and Taxxons belong to K.A. Applegate. Wormwood and _The Screwtape Letters_ belong to whoever J.R.R. Tolkien's living heir is now. All other character names belong to nobody. Any resemblance to actual people is purely coincidental-or is it?

**The Silent War: A Controller's Unbreakable Hope**

My name is John Parker, and I swear to you right now that what I am writing is true. To begin with, I am writing from inside a cage underground. All around me there are other cages, holding miserable captives like myself. The air is filled with the hopeless wailing of lost souls. Our cages are guarded by oversized bugs called Taxxons, and by Hork Bajir, which look like they are part man, part snake, part tyrannosaurus, and part blender. Strangely enough, although the Hork-Bajir resemble demons, there are many of them locked up like us human prisoners. There is one in the cell right beside mine. Tar Jalell, I think he said his name was. Nice guy, if a bit slow. Like me, he longs for escape, but he does not have the wits to contrive it.

People have described this place by a name I won't repeat. It is not that place, although I doubt Satan in his wildest imaginings could design a worse prison than the Yeerk pool.

Yeerks. Tiny, alien slugs that crawl inside your ear and wrap themselves around your brain. Once they do that, your control is gone. You can fight all you want, but the Yeerk has total control. It taps into your memories and pretends to be you, all the while plotting to enslave the ones you love. They have taken over several planets already in this way. They enslaved the Hork-Bajir, who were once a sweet and peaceful race just like Tar Jalell. The Yeerks took over the Taxxon homeworld, although there they were greeted with open arms. A Yeerk possesses you like a demon, and most of them act like demons too. The worst part is the way they laugh at you, enjoying your mental screams as you try in vain to take back your own body.

I have been their prisoner for about a month now. They were clever in how they lured me, and so many others like me, into their trap. I joined their front organization called the Sharing, which is basically this big "happy family" type club and does a lot of community service programs like sponsoring blood drives and stuff. I joined them because I thought it would be a good way to help people. As a partial member, it was wonderful. I made all kinds of friends (including a girl who I thought liked me until I found out the truth), went to a lot of social gatherings, and did a lot of good for my town. Soup kitchens, cleanup crews, every sort of humanitarian effort. Never did I suspect that almost everything I did was helping them to lay more traps. My mother always said that Evil is not above doing good things in order to look good.

When I asked how to become a full member, they took me into a room and locked the door. They showed me a Yeerk and tried to convince me to join them willingly, saying that they only wanted to "share" in human life, with all our wonderful senses and culture. I didn't feel right about sacrificing my free will, so I said no. They said I didn't have a choice.

That's when they grabbed me, held me down, and put one of those filthy slugs in my ear. That was the day I lost my freedom.

That was on a Monday. For six days I screamed and raged at the invader inside my head, pleading for an escape. But all I got, and all I still get, is an hour or two every three days when it returns to the Yeerk pool to soak up Kandrona rays. An alien called a Skrit-NA once told me that the Yeerks starve if they don't get those rays. The sheer agony of losing myself would have driven me mad long ago if I hadn't grown up as a churchgoer. Kids from school made fun of me, calling me a sissy Christian. One of them is two cages down from mine right now, crying his eyes out.

The Yeerk they assigned to me (I call him Wormwood after the demon from The Screwtape Letters) knew I went to church, and it also knew that continued attendance was necessary in order to keep from blowing the cover. So the following Sunday, it took my body to church.

That day, the pastor preached about how Jesus makes us no longer slaves to sin, and how with Him we can be free from all bondage. I sat and I listened, as Wormwood commanded. I had known all these things from an early age, but now they took on a new meaning for me. And when the pastor quoted James chapter four, verse seven, "Resist the Devil and he will flee from you," I knew I had struck upon the answer.

Since then I have given the Yeerk no peace. Day and night I assail him with Bible verses, hymns, even bad jokes (Why didn't Noah allow fishing on the Ark? He only had two worms!). Anything I can think of to pester and rebuke him, making him a prisoner inside my mind. He is already weakening, I can tell. Even worse for him, he knows that he cannot stop going to church entirely or he will draw the attention of my real friends. So for the time being, at least, he must take me back to my own little pool every Sunday for three hours.

Oh, yes, Wormwood. You may have me for a little while. But soon I shall be master of myself again, even for a short time. It doesn't matter if it's just a few seconds. I will do what I can with it. Even if they think I'm crazy, I'll win because then they will lock me up. They will lock me up, and Wormwood will starve. Even in prison, I will be free.

The truth is, I already am.

Ah, they are coming to take me to the pool now. Coming to put that slug in my ear.

I'm ready, Wormwood.

Are you?

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This is my first fanfic. Please tell me what you think!


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